The administration of US President Donald Trump has significantly cut funding for programs related to the documentation and investigation of russian war crimes in Ukraine. This has put the work of a number of initiatives that collected evidence of the occupiers' crimes and helped victims seek justice at risk.
According to Reuters, of the more than USD 283 million that the US has allocated to such projects since 2022, at least 40% of the programs have been scaled back or stopped working after the Trump administration's freeze on foreign aid in January 2025.
According to a Ukrainian official, the cuts affected about half of American programs aimed at investigating war crimes and supporting the rule of law in Ukraine.
Due to a lack of funds, the human rights organization Truth Hounds, which documented more than 17,000 possible war crimes, was forced to reduce its staff and suspend some projects. Many international experts who worked to collect evidence on the ground also stopped traveling to Ukraine.
In addition, after the liquidation of USAID, a USD 62 million program was canceled, which provided support for the Ukrainian judicial system and the restoration of destroyed courts. At the same time, Yale University, which was monitoring more than 35,000 Ukrainian children illegally taken to russia, did not receive further funding and plans to complete the project in August.
The changes also affected American government agencies. The Department of State unit that coordinated the response to mass crimes in the world was liquidated, a special group of the US Department of Justice that assisted Ukraine in investigations was disbanded, and participation in the international group for collecting evidence against the russian leadership was also terminated.
Despite the reduction in American support, European countries declare their readiness to continue funding relevant initiatives. The European Union has already allocated EUR 10 million to create a special tribunal on the crime of russian aggression and another EUR 50 million for programs to protect abducted Ukrainian children. The United Kingdom has allocated an additional GBP 5 million sterling to support victims of war crimes.
As a reminder, the UN Security Council convened an urgent meeting on May 19 due to the escalation of attacks by the aggressor state of russia on Ukraine after Melnyk's letter to the UN Security Council President regarding the intensification of russian attacks in recent weeks on the civilian population and critical infrastructure of Ukraine.
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